Gruesome murder on Greyhound bus

Usually, news of murder have gotten so retarded and/or violent that I'm just unperturbed by it. But this one was like horror movie brought to life. Seriously, for once, news made my insides kinda flinch. =\ Read this on the bus, going home from school.

[SIZE="5"]Beheading victim mourned, suspect appears in court[/SIZE]

[SIZE="3"]Edmonton man charged with second-degree murder utters not a word when he appears in court[/SIZE]

August 01, 2008
The Canadian Press

The man accused in the beheading of a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba has made his first court appearance.

Vince Weiguang Li, 40, of Edmonton walked into a courtroom in Portage la Prairie, Man., today with his head bowed and his lips sealed.

He would not even reply when the judge asked him if he was going to get a lawyer, and only nodded slightly when asked whether he was exercising his right not to speak.

The Crown asked for a psychiatric assessment, but the judge said he wanted to give Li a chance to talk to a lawyer about that.

Li’s next court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday in Portage la Prairie.

Li is charged with second-degree murder in the gruesome slaying of Tim McLean, 22, on a Greyhound bus that was travelling from Edmonton to Winnipeg.

A post-mortem is scheduled for today at the Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre.

Friends said McLean was a quiet, easy-going carnival worker who was going home to Winnipeg when he was stabbed repeatedly and then decapitated by a man sitting next to him.

Witnesses say the suspect then carved up his body in front of terrified passengers.

William Caron, 23, of Winnipeg, said contrary to some reports, McLean was not asleep when the attack happened.

"I was talking to one of his ex-girlfriends not too long ago, and she was texting him the whole way back from Edmonton until 10 minutes before this accident happens," Caron told The Canadian Press.

"He was just sitting there texting her, listening to music on his cellphone."

Police have released very little information about the attack.

"It's not something that happens regularly on a bus," said Staff Sgt. Steve Colwell. "You're sitting there enjoying your trip and then all of a sudden somebody gets stabbed."

Passengers gave a much more graphic account of events.

"We heard this blood-curdling scream and turned around, and the (suspect) was standing up, stabbing this guy repeatedly, like 40 or 50 times," Garnet Caton said from a hotel in Brandon, Man., where he and other passengers had been taken to rest.

"There was no rage or anything. He was like a robot, stabbing the guy."

Caton said the bus stopped immediately, just west of Portage La Prairie on Wednesday night, and everyone scrambled to get out while the attacker started methodically carving up the victim's body, not paying attention to anyone else.

Caton and the driver shut the bus door from the outside while they waited for police to arrive.

"We put our bodies up against the door, waiting for him to come out ... and he went back and brought the head to the front and pretty much displayed it ... and dropped it on the ground in front of us," Caton said.

"All very calmly. He was wearing sunglasses. It was no big deal to him."

Fellow passenger Cody Olmstead from Kentville, N.S., also recalled the chilling scene.

"The (suspect) came to the front of the door with buddy's head in his hands, decapitated. He dropped the head and went back and started cutting the body back up," Olmstead said.

When police arrived a few minutes later, passengers were taken away and the officers tried to get the suspect to surrender.

"He was immediately subdued and arrested without incident."

Both Olmstead and Caton said the suspect and McLean appeared not to know each other.

Tim McLean Sr. said his son had sent him a text message as the bus was leaving Brandon, the last leg of its journey, to ask if he could come home for the night.

McLean told his son that, of course, he could come home, and that was the last contact he had with him.

A Facebook website called "R.I.P. Tim" quickly sprang up after news of the attack.

"I can't believe this is happening," wrote Leah Dryburgh of Winnipeg. "Tim, you were the best guy ever. You didn't deserve this at all."

Caron said he was one of McLean's best friends, having known each other since they were in Grade 7.

"I knew he was coming back ... from the (exhibition)," said Caron, who said his buddy worked a carnival booth at fairs around western Canada.

"My brother was supposed to go meet him at the bus depot and he never showed up.

"Caron said his three children all loved McLean, who he described as a quiet, easy-going guy.

"I was completely shocked cuz Tim has never been a roughhousing guy," he said.

"He's always been a quiet guy, just kind of socialized with his buddies and that was it."

He said his friend was small, around five-foot-four and weighing maybe 130 pounds.

Quote from newspaper: "Certainly, the horrific nature of it is probably one-of-a-kind in Canadian history."

On a lighter note: lol @ newsheadline. Shouldn't it be Beheaded instead of beheading?